Talkin' 'bout my "generation"...

[butterflydreaming]

What defines your generation? I kicked around some ideas with coffeedaiv about this tonight, and among other things we came up with three types of markers. Who was the big pop star of your early adulthood? Major political event? Fad? This demotes year age from its typical prominence in measuring a generation group.

This came up because I'm prickling at the idea of 18-35 being a reasonable age range as a generation, for interactive purposes other than marketing. I was a 20 year old that dated 30-35 year olds. We were *not* the same generation. And that's a soapbox I've already stood on enough tonight.

I identify as a Cold War child. The significant political event for me is the fall of the Soviet Union (circa 1990, also when I graduated high school). Pop stars that come to mind are of my childhood: Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Menudo. For a little older, the Spice Girls are relevant. The fads were... Super Nintendo, Hypercolor T-shirts... AOL?

What are yours?

Comments

[joyful-storm.livejournal.com]

It's hard. . . I feel like there are multiple sets in succession, childhood/high school/college/other college/first job. . . it's too big a span to feel it's generationally defining, but picking only part of it feels like it's giving an incomplete picture.

[buhrger]

I'm prickling at the idea of 18-35 being a reasonable age range as a generation
the ludicrosity of this becomes blatant if you expand it just slightly to 18-36. the 36 year old is twice as old as the 18 year old.

(now, age them both 18 years, and you've got a 36 year old and a 54 year old—they might have more in common...?)

[ironymaiden]

18-35 is a lousy range. i think about it this way: i was directing college kids when i was 27. so, at most, i was nine years older than they were. the shocker for me was that they had been videotaped their entire lives.

i'm in your cohort, although i remember different music (which may be a function of where we grew up). your list minus Menudo, plus Poison, Bon Jovi, New Kids on the Block. i was still in school for REM releasing Losing My Religion, jumped around to Nirvana at my senior prom.

[amheriksha.livejournal.com]

I think generation is one of those things that's hard to determine. I mean, while I'm younger than many of my friends, I feel more part of their generation than my own.

Technically, my generation is the online generation and unfortunately represents the loss of face to face communication and the rise of texting, chat rooms, email and the anonymity of the internet. Which make me sad...and feel MUCH older than I am. I mean, I read paper books for chrissakes! *rolls eyes and sighs*

[abebes-heir.livejournal.com]

From the 80s.. I remember Atari, single-speed Huffy 'BMX' bikes, suede Pumas with fat laces, Jams (those ugly Hawaiian print shorts), Lee jeans, The Beastie Boys, 'The Joshua Tree' by U2 and seeing my first real life pair of tits in 8th grade art class (courtesy of Rosa Santiago).
From the cusp of the 80s/90s... I remember the Berlin Wall being dismantled, Lithuania becoming a nation again (I am half Lit.), 'Disintegration' by The Cure and cybergenics...


Here is a snippet of info from wikipedia:

Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is a term used to refer to a generational cohort born after the baby boom ended, extending from the early-to-mid 1960s to late 1970s.

In the 1991 book Generations, William Strauss and Neil Howe call this generation the "13th Generation" and define the birth years as 1961 to 1981 (the lowest birth rate year for this generation was 1971).